All of social media was a buzz after Detroit’s loss in Game 1 Wednesday to the Chicago Blackhawks and much of the finger pointing was directed the rookie blue liner.

“I think a few buddies told me it was all over Twitter,” Smith said Friday after practice. “It’s somebodies opinion.

“I think it’s about being professional,” Smith added. “You just have to come in and do what you’ve done every day and for myself it’s to put that behind myself and I found that pretty easy. It’s a new day and it’s easy for myself to do. Foe some people it might be harder, but for myself I found it a lot easier to put it behind me and look forward to Saturday’s game.”

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His coach Mike Babcock was quick to defend his young player.

“I heard all the stuff, I heard the emotion from some of our staff, too,” said Babcock, whose squad takes on the Blackhawks in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series Saturday at 1 p.m. at the United Center. “I didn’t see it like that. I saw a young guy trying to make a bunch of plays and no one there to accept the pass at the other end. So what I did today with Smitty, I showed him a bunch of good plays and I said, ‘Let me decide and you decide, nobody else decides.’”

Captain Henrik Zetterberg said Smith just has to put Game 1 behind him.

“I think you just gotta flush it out,” Zetterberg said. “That stuff will happen. I don’t think he was that bad (like) some people thought he was. He’s played a lot of games and he knows what he has to do. If you come out and have a so-so game, just forget about it and move on and play better.”

TV analysts began piling on Smith during the game.

“I talked to coach about it where there’s a thing where my speed will get me back to the puck,” Smith said. “So I have to make better plays, obviously. It’s one of the things I want to do better at. But I don’t think that’s a fair assessment.”

Statistic wise Smith’s numbers were good in nearly 19 minutes of ice time, finishing a plus-1 with three blocked shots, two hits and two shots on goal.

“There were a lot of good plays I felt that I made and there are some things that I have to build on,” said Smith, who has one goal, 14 assists and a plus-4 in 48 regular season games over two seasons with Detroit. “Coach said, ‘just build from the good things that you did.’”

Late in the regular season Smith found himself a healthy scratch for two straight games after his coach wanted him to look after the puck better. Prior to his benching he had gone five consecutive games by registering a minus-1 rating.

“I have to move my feet a little quicker in certain situations,” Smith said. “Maybe shoot a little more in some situations and then there are some things that I can look at with my D partner and we can collaborate so we can get better.

“If you watch our style of defense it’s all five of us,” Smith added. “You see that their defense is always into the rush and stuff, and they have great skaters. So it’s the cord. Why you get out of your zone is because everybody is in position and follows the structure. If you don’t follow your structure it won’t take care of you. So the whole thing is if we play by our system it will take care of us.”

The Wings had trouble getting the puck out of their zone after the first period of Game 1 and couldn’t establish much if any sustained pressure in the Blackhawks’ zone.

“If our forwards get back into the right places and we move the puck as quick as possible and don’t move it D to D and build it, because they will have their forecheck on top of you,” Smith said. “We need all of our systems to work and it will take care of us ultimately. It’s just not the D. I think we’re the last line of defense. We have to make better plays with the puck. It starts with the whole team coming back and making options for each other.”

Smith was called on to play a huge role this season after the Wings lost Nicklas Lidstrom (retirement) and Brad Stuart (trade).

“I thought Smitty fit in perfect,” Babcock said. “This is kind of the way I look at this situation. Smitty’s played (34) games in the NHL in the two-pair. So the number 3-4 pair, the two-pair. So I look at (Jonathan Ericsson). Big E played in the 5-hole for the Red Wings for (several) years. I don’t even know why we’re talking about.”

Smith has one goal, one assist and is a minus-2 in eight games this postseason.

Send comments to chuck.pleiness@macombdaily.com and visit his blog at redwingsfront.wordpress.com